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The St. Anthony’s senior has committed to join Joe Alberici’s program at Army.

But many of his most significant accomplishments so far have come in another sport. He’s a Junior Olympic snowboarder.

On the lacrosse field, the 6-0, 190-pound midfielder also has a specialty.

Faceoffs.

That’s one of the topics we discussed in this Q&A on his commitment to West Point.

What were the main factors in your decision to attend Army?
I’ve always been intrigued by the academies because they offered everything I was looking for, including strong academics, great lacrosse and the opportunity to serve as an active duty officer in the military.

My grandfather was a career Navy man. All of the traits that I admired so much about him were due to his military background.

When it was time for me to make a decision as to where I wanted to go, there was no doubt in my mind that it was going to be an academy, and West Point was it.

Coach Alberici and (Assistant) Coach (Mac) Diange are great coaches and more importantly great people. They really made me feel like we were a perfect fit for each other.

What other schools were you considering and what schools did you visit?It was a little difficult to visit schools last fall because of football season, but I managed to do some overnight visits at Army, Navy, Georgetown and Syracuse. I was also considering Notre Dame, Dartmouth and Denver. They are all great schools and the coaches couldn’t have been nicer They were all very supportive when I told them of my decision to attend West Point.

How did you first get into taking faceoffs and what other players or coaches have helped you become such a specialist?
I started taking faceoffs when I was in seventh grade on my summer league team, the Long Island Express. Coach (Mike) Chanenchuck told me I was going to be his starting faceoff guy, and I have been ever since.

I started working with a great faceoff specialist named Matt Schomburg. He’s from Australia, and he’s the best there is. I learned everything from him. We train every Saturday and Sunday all year. Dylan Levings (Yale) worked with “Schomi” (Schomburg) also. He was a few years older than me and he spent a lot of time practicing reps with me so I would be better than kids my age. It’s funny because now I’m that guy for a younger kid at those practices.

What are your strengths as a player and how would you describe your style of play?My quick hands, upper-body strength and fast shot. I’ve been told that I’m also pretty good at getting into my opponents’ head at the face off. I’d say that my style of play is definitely scrappy. Run and gun.

When did you first realize you had the potential to play at the college level?When I was a rising sophomore at Nike Blue Chip. When Sept. 1 rolled around I had been contacted by a lot of coaches. It was exciting to know that I was probably going to play in college.

Is it a special source of pride that St Anthony’s continually send a large number of players to the college ranks each year?
Definitely. From the very beginning, our coaches emphasize hard work and dedication, not only on the field, but off as well.

There are a lot of great athletes here and it’s an honor to call them my teammates. I love the fact that I will see most of them again when we play each other in college. Our coaches all played at the Division I level themselves, so they know what it takes to get the most out of our team and put together a winning season.

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